Share Handmade Kindness

I've joined the movement Jennifer Mcguire's "share handmade kindness" project. Making cards to pass out randomly to people to spread more happiness and positive thoughts. For the last few weeks I've made master watercolor sheets to use on my cards, making each card unique. 
This one (can't tell from the photo) uses the inlay technique and mini brads that I've had for years. Finally breaking into my old scrapbooking stash of embellishments. Amazing how much stuff I still have from years ago!

Those who inspire others - Susan Eckert - Adventure Women Travels

Susan Eckert - Adventure Women

There are a few people who have had a great impact on my life. Susan Eckert was one of those people. She helped me (and thousands of other women) to go outside my comfort zone and travel to see the world. She was one of the first adventure travel companies just for women. At the time of my first trip with Adventure Women, I was married to someone who didn't like international travel. I either had to live with the regret of never getting to see the world or do it on my own. Since that very first trip many years ago, I've now flown half way around the world by myself, been in a tropical storm that stranded us on a remote island, capsized in a boat in Nepal, come face to face with a wild orangutan, been only a few feet way from a wild lioness eating a fresh kill, had a baby seal born on my foot while hiking the Galapagos Island and taken a picture with a llama while hiking Machu Picchu. There are many more special memories that Susan made possible for me and many other women. It was sad to get the news Susan past away this week. Her legacy to encourage women to travel alone will continue but she will still be sorely missed. 

In Honor of Susan Eckert

Inlay Card Technique

A little closer look at one of the cards I made with all the watercolor backgrounds I made this past weekend. You can't really tell that the many thanks is inlayed into the card but it is a cool effect and make the card very flat - great for mailing. 
Thinking I may turn this into a class. It's so fun just to spend time splashing color onto paper with no really goal in mind. 

Water Color Backgrounds 2017

I had this weekend off so after getting all the weeding done in my garden and around the property, I spent time making watercolor backgrounds. I tried Color Burst Crystals (like Brusho) but I still like Twinkling H2O as my go to watercolors. It took me awhile to figure out how to get a consistent but random background look without everything turning into a muddy mess.  

I finally figure out if I painted the watercolor onto my block, mist lightly (key here) and let the block sit on the watercolor paper for awhile (another key step), I avoided the running muddy mess.  Now with a stack of backgrounds made I decided to try the inlay technique for the cards I'm making for the "share handmade kindness" project. 

Water Color Backgrounds

When ever I lose my creative mojo, I turn to my twinkling H2O watercolors. Splashing color on to paper with no goal in mind is helpful. On some of my favorite card making blogs, they all talk about how "easy" it is to  make interesting backgrounds - NOT true at all. My best guess they had to make a ton before getting the one that's shown on camera. Of course they may be more loose about what's good and what's not. :)  Still I love the blogs and videos which inspire me to keep trying. I plan to turn these backgrounds into "share the kindness" cards to hand out.  I also hope to do a workshop, so others like me spend the day splatter paint and see what we get. 

Time in the garden 2017

Since I have the whole weekend off from work (happy dance) Annie and I spent all morning working out in the garden and outlining property. Having to deal with deer and gophers, I'm very limited into what type of landscaping plants I can use. I find it relaxing to pull weeds even if I'm having to climb up and down the hill. Annie of course only cares about chasing her ball. :) 

Washi Paper Weaving with Crane

I've been trying to clean up my crafting area, a battle every crafter goes through. I'm finally getting around to using up my washi paper scraps. I made the base card weave part months ago and just unearth them this morning. I picked up a huge bag of Mizuhiki cord at Cranberry Hill's used rubber stamp sale last week for $1 so decided to finish up my cards. I think this will be my May card I send out to friends for a "just becasue" moment. :)
I may end up teaching a class, since I have more scraps that I can possible use up in my life time. 

Trying something new with food.

Finding out later in life that I have gluten issues, it's been a challenge to bake. Now that's it more main stream and cost effective to use almond or coconut flour, I'm able to experiment more. I also have a good friend who is a baker and has a spouse and child who is also gluten free. So when I need a good recipe, she my go to person. This past week I perfected my gf pizza, which make for a quick dinner. Adding homemade pesto and spinach from my garden to the pizza is a plus too!
I also BBQ pork chops for the first time on the grill and they turned out perfect. I never knew you could!
Now the challenge for this week is to make a gf carrot cake for an up coming birthday at work. I'm not a fan of carrot cake (not sweet enough) but it's the birthday boy's favorite. 
My daughter gave me some coffee beans from Hawaii in December and I decided it was time to start using them. I've been making ice coffee for Annie's morning work outs. . With the weather finally warming up, I can enjoy time out in the garden while Annie chases her ball. 

Eye Chart Card

This was a card I designed years ago when embossing folders first came out. Amazingly the parts survived my big craft room purge. Now that I work for an optometrist and his birthday is coming up this week I made another one. Pretty  simple but he's a guy so over embellishing it would be a waste. :)  

Morning in the garden 2017

I'm not a morning person by nature. I'm most creative late at night when everything is quiet. Things changed after I got Annie, who requires daily exercise (especially when she was a puppy) so my day starts at sunrise.  Annie gets her breakfast at dawn and then after a few hours goes out for a run. During that time, I get things done around the house before I have to leave for work. With the hot weather now here, I really have to make sure Annie's workout gets done before it heats up. 
California strawberries are now in season (happy dance) so I enjoyed some time out in my garden snacking on them while throwing the ball for Annie. My daughter brought back some Hawaiian coffee beans for me so I made some ice coffee, which is something new for me. 
Have to love living in CA!